Bullet Found at Rome Elementary School Has Parents Concerned

A bullet found in the halls of a Rome school has parents concerned, not just by the bullet but by being notified hours later in a letter sent home with students.

One parent, who asked to remain anonymous, says parents of Francis Bellamy students were notified in a letter sent home with kids. "Now that’s a scary thought. If anything ever happened we would never know until after the fact."

The letter, that you can read in full below, explained "shortly after 12:40 p.m. a staff member alerted me a student found an object in the hallway that appeared to be a bullet," Principal Molly Mytech wrote.

Students were put into a shelter in place, as per district procedures and police were called. A thorough sweep of the building "found no further evidence of any threat to the health and safety of students and staff."

Rome School Superintendent Peter Blake says parents weren't notified immediately becasue there was no threat to the building or cause for alarm. "Communicating in the middle of the day, while staff and students still have school to attend to, generally causes panic and alarm for no reason. All emergency protocols were followed and the situation was addressed and resolved within 15 minutes."

While several Bellamy parents are upset, others say finding a bullet shouldn't cause such an uproar. "This is Central New York where families go hunting regularly. You're acting like a kid brought a gun into the building. It's nothing more than a paper weight without the means to fire it."

One parent says she's upset by the incident but is using it as a teaching lesson for her child. "I'm going to sit my daughter down and have a chat about seeing things and reporting them ASAP. Scary world we live in."